Wanna See a Dead Body? From 0-10 to 1-13

Against FBS competition this year, MAC teams have a combined record of 1-13 with the lone win coming in Week 1 when Eastern Michigan took down Coastal Carolina on the road. The MAC tends to struggle against better teams, but athletic departments know that trying to beat the Michigans and Ohio States and LSUs and Wiconsins and Kentuckys of the world are not guarantees, but those paychecks are.

One win over FBS teams over two weeks isn’t worth bragging about. Combing through early box scores over the decade taught me something I wish I didn’t know. Somehow, having one week through two weeks of football isn’t the worst fight the MAC put up this decade.

In 2010, the MAC went winless through two weeks of non-conference, FBS play (0-10). Going 0-7 in Week 1 and 0-3 in Week 2, it was the first two of six winless weekends the MAC has had this decade. Two then, 0-5 in Week 2 of 2011, 0-4 in Week 1 in 2014, 0-6 in Week 1 last year, and then 0-8 this past weekend.

Here are some quick numbers to look at how MAC teams performed against FBS teams this decade. Neither in-league MAC games nor games against the FCS are included in the figures below:

Year

Week 1

Week 2

Thru 2 weeks (win%)

2010

0-7

0-3

0-10 (0.00)

2011

4-6

0-5

4-11 (0.267)

2012

1-8

3-5

4-13 (0.235)

2013

1-9

2-4

3-13 (0.188)

2014

0-4

2-8

2-12 (0.143)

2015

2-6

4-6

6-12 (0.333)

2016

3-4

2-4

5-8 (0.385)

2017

1-8

4-3

5-11 (0.313)

2018

0-6

2-6

2-12 (0.143)

2019

1-5

0-8

1-13 (0.071)

Total:

32-115 (0.218)

Of course, many of these games include the major programs that shell out $1.2 million to help the opposing MAC schools’ fund their Olympic sports, but that’s not the case for everybody. Even if we can just ignore those bodybag games, when people cry foul at someone saying that the MAC as a whole is “underrated” or “disrespected”, just remember that nobody cares if your MAC team can beat up on Hampton if you’re still going to lose to Florida. Let alone Army or the Mountain West.